About the possibility of a new series.....
You know back in the day when all of the Star Trek franchise was owned by one owner it'd be a no-brainer for TPTB to pour insane money down the tubes for a new series after a successful movie or series of movies.
TMP more or less lead Paramount down the path towards TNG, putting Gene in charge of it no less.
However, now that Star Trek has two parents, Paramount on the film side and CBS inc. on the TV side, it's highly unlikely that a new series will come down the pike any time soon.
Why ? Two words Leslie Moonves.
You see old Leslie Moonves hates all of Sci-Fi, especialy Star Trek, and seeing as he's The big boss, The head honcho, The number one guy, The C.E.O. at CBS inc. Can you say "Snowballs Chance In Heck ?"
So unless Leslie Moonves has a change of heart, or dies and that in turn puts someone else in charge of CBS inc. who isn't so close minded about doing Sci-Fi on thier network, it's not going to happen.
Even if the new movie made one trillion bucks, Leslie Moonves won't put the bucks toward a new Star Trek series, he'd rather just make money by selling the old shows to syndication and just leave it at that.
So unless you know something I don't ( Namely Leslie Moonves giving a poop about Star Trek ) I don't see a new series happening again in any of our lifetimes. ( Well, those of us over 40 anyway )
- W -
* I say we put Leslie Moonves in a red shirt and have him beam down to the planet with Kirk. He's then turned into a cube and then crushed by the alien of the week. Then after that we can get on with doing a new Star Trek series that takes place after the new movie or something like that. *